In this 12-page essay, titled Brief Discours qui montre en substance combien il seroit important de reusser dans deux entreprises proposees et contenuel en ce memoire , Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce, baron de Lahontan, proposed a plan to drive French forces from Acadia and to promote British alliances with local Native American tribes.
Lahontan addressed his detailed plan to Daniel Finch, the 2nd Earl of Nottingham and secretary of state under Queen Anne. He suggested an attack against Port Royal, Nova Scotia (now Annapolis Royal), and advocated British trading alliances with Native Americans in the Great Lakes region. He described the area around Port Royal, provided information about its European inhabitants, and anticipated the benefits of a British victory to colonists in New England.
Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce was born in Lahontan, France, on June 9, 1666. He inherited the baronetcy of Lahontan after the death of his father, Isaac de Lom d'Arce, in 1674. Lahontan left France for North America around 1683. He became commander of Fort St. Joseph in 1687, traveled around the northern Great Lakes region, and claimed to have explored the Mississippi River region. Lahontan returned to France in 1690, but soon went back to North America. He fought alongside French forces near Québec as the English fleet attempted to move up the St. Lawrence River and helped defend the port at Placentia during King William's War. Though he received a promotion, Lahontan fell out of favor with Governor Jacques-François de Monbeton de Brouillan and fled to Portugal in order to avoid arrest for deserting his post. Lahontan traveled throughout northern and western Europe and remained in exile until his death in 1715 or 1716.
